BMW is selling a subscription plan for seat warmers — for $17 a month
CBSN
BMW is turning to an unusual business model for car buyers in some countries: If you want heated seats, you'll have to sign up for a subscription plan of about $17 a month to get your tush warmed up.
The BMW subscription plan for seat heaters is sold in the U.K., where the fee is about $17 a month, and South Korea, where it costs about $18 a month, according The Verge, which earlier reported on the development.
According to BMW's U.K. site, some cars are installed with seat warmers "at no extra cost." But to access the actual seat-warming function, customers must purchase a $17 monthly subscription plan or else pay up about $416 to unlock the service on an "unlimited basis." Once the purchase is made, the seat warmers are "then activated in your vehicle," the site notes.
Ashley White received her earliest combat action badge from the United States Army soon after the first lieutenant arrived in Afghanistan. The silver military award, recognizing soldiers who've been personally engaged by an attacker during conflict, was considered an achievement in and of itself as well as an affirming rite of passage for the newly deployed. White had earned it for using her own body to shield a group of civilian women and children from gunfire that broke out in the midst of her third mission in Kandahar province. All of them survived. She never mentioned the badge to anyone in her battalion.